By Mr. Larry Perez Commander
American GI Forum of Texas Inc.
Testimony Before the Senate Select Committee on Veterans Health on Monday November 29 in Harlingen Texas
Texas Insider Report: Harlingen TEXAS -- Mr. Chairman Honorable Members of the Committee it is my pleasure to come before you today to speak in support of Texas Veterans health care. I come before you today as the State Commander of the American GI Forum of Texas.
I am here to support a partnership between state and Federal agencies for the benefit of establishing a veterans hospital in the Rio Grande Valley area of Texas improve primary health care service for all Texas Veterans support Veterans State Homes for our aging Veterans and improve the mental health care services of our Veterans in Texas.
It is the position of the American GI Forum of Texas that Proposition 8 approved by the Texas voters on November 2009 is one more example of how Texas is leading the way in serving the veterans of our nation. Although our efforts in Washington have brought positive results the biggest obstacle has been with the allocation of sufficient funding to make full health care services for Veterans a reality.
With the assistance of the States resources providing money property maintenance operational and technical assistance the establishing of Veterans hospitals becomes more of a reality. Texas with the third largest veterans population; and the fastest growing population of new veterans in the country should be viewed by all as a model of how states can also meet their obligations to veterans instead of dismissing an obligation with a shrug of the shoulders and excusing themselves by stating its a federal obligation".
Proposition 8 was supported by the American GI Forum membership with testimony from our former State Commander Mr. Paul Herrera and we feel that it will help veterans with vital medical care by leveraging federal commitment to our states veterans.
In concert with Proposition 8 our organization is very supportive of establishing a veterans hospital in the lower Rio Grande Valley home for many veterans including a clear majority of Hispanic veterans that faithfully served. Many areas of Texas could benefit from additional VA Hospitals but none more than the Lower Rio Grande Valley which has a very high per capita population of veterans and is currently served by the nearest VA hospital in San Antonio - - - a long five to six hour drive for veterans that need service.
With Texas providing additional resources through proposition 8 it offers incentive for the Department of Veterans Affairs and Congress to consider when they deliberate on the financial sense of establishing a Veterans Hospital in the Valley. It is imperative that this Committee promotes the significant points of Proposition 8 to those powers that will eventually address the need for the establishment of this vital medical service for our veterans of that area.
The American GI Forum of Texas would also encourage this Committees membership to use the model of Proposition 8 to help establish more State-Owned Veterans Homes expand on our mental health services and other much needed primary health services throughout the state.
Many of the World War II and Korean War veterans in our state are in dire need of nursing care at an affordable rate and the current seven Veterans Homes are tremendous facilities that must be replicated in many other communities of the state including the major cities where the largest portion of veterans reside. The aging Vietnam Veterans population will soon add to this demand for more nursing care and now is the time to act. We must also be cognizant of our growing homeless Veteran population that now includes a large number of women and families. Primary health care is essential and working with other health care providers must be one of the goals of federal and state funds.
Veterans of limited financial means rely on these homes for their nursing care and our organization believes that we must not forget that the families of these veterans can only visit them in facilities reasonable close to their homes. This Committee could prevail on communities throughout the state to prepare packages of incentives to compliment the federal dollars granted to the state for these homes and this committee could support the work of the Veterans Land Board by authorizing them the resources that would allow them to bid on more Veterans Homes for our great state.
The number of older veterans require nursing care is growing very fast and more attention needs to be focused on a commensurate plan to deal with this need. It is our suggestion that an amendment to Proposition 8 or a new plan modeled after this proposition could very effectively deal with this growing demand.
In summation I commend the commitment of the State Legislatures to continue to serve the needs of our Texas Veterans in employment business development education and family services and we look towards great things from this committee that will focus on the medical needs of our aging veteran population.
